He was still trying to savor last night’s dramatic 5-3 Devils victory in Game 5 at the Garden, where Ryan Carter scored the tie-breaking winner with 4:24 to play.

But the victory only launched memory lane to “We’ll Win Tonight,” The Post’s famous back page of May 25, 1994.

“Are they making promises already?” Patrik Elias wondered. “We won’t worry about it. Who cares what happened way back then?”

They are talking about Mark Messier’s promise, 18 years ago today, that the Rangers would win Game 6 of that epic, historic second Battle of the Hudson, that would send the winner to the Stanley Cup finals as the favorite.

Callahan is a terrific player and plays the right way for the most part, but he's not a patch on Messier's fanny. The only Ranger that really can pull a Messier is Henry...but he looks like he's finally getting fatigued.

The main thing I fear about tomorrow isn't history...it's the fact this series hasn't exactly gone according to script. Whether it's teams losing games they dominate, our fourth line dominating, their popgun offense coming from three down. And if you were betting you'd bet on us to close it out at home after taking their best shot in Game 5.

Of course, if you had taken a poll of fans (Devil and Ranger fans alike) after Gaborik tied it up, maybe 5% would have thought the Devils were winning after that, if that much.

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"The Devils have high standards, that's the difference. We have a standard to live up to every year, and a couple of teams in our area don't have the standards we do." - Pat Burns

The New Jersey Devils win Stanley Cups everywhere:-NHL record for most road wins in the playoffs - 10-1 in '95 and 10-2 in '00-NHL record for most home wins in the playoffs - 12-1 in '03

I would have been far more surprised if at least 1 article came out and said "This series has exactly nothing in common with the 94 series except Marty is still the goalie of the Devils, Lou is still the GM of the Devils, and Robinson is again an assistant coach of the Devils"

On one end, the New Jersey Devils are quite distinct for having never shied away from laying hands on the Prince of Wales Trophy. Then-captain Scott Stevens did it in each of four opportunities in a span of nine years.

In three of those four subsequent championship rounds, those same hands exchanged pleasantries with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and then gripped the Cup. The only time the Devils lost in the final was the only time Stevens touched, but did not pick up, the conference hardware.

And it continues.... Front page of TSN hockey. Which Ranger WILL Step Up Like Messier Did? Not 'could' or 'should'. WILL. Looks like the only way the Devils get any respect is if they leave no one else to respect.

Official NJDevs.com Keeper of Gory Corey Schwab, Mike Peluso, Troy Crowder, Jeff Frazee, and Rich Shulmistra."The Devils are that zombie that takes an ax to the skull, a bullet to the temple and is set on fire … and yet keeps lumbering along to the annoyance of all the other zombies." - Puck Daddy

It really is amazing how here it is 18 years later and the Devils still have the same goaltender.

It'd be equally interesting to go around the league and see how many starting goaltenders have played for each team in that same span...some of those teams didn't even EXIST when Marty became the man in '94.

The Whalers were still the Whalers back then, and the Nordiques were still in Quebec. The Winnipeg Jets were the real Winnipeg Jets, not the Atlanta transplants.

The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and Florida Panthers were playing their inaugural seasons, and the Dallas Stars were playing their first season in Dallas after having moved from Minnesota.

Four teams that didn't even exist: the Atlanta Thrashers, the Nashville Predators, the Columbus Blue Jackets, and the Minnesota Wild.

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THE NHL MUST LOVE THE DEVILS - from who else? A RANGER fan![Mark Messier]: A big, bald attention whore with a stupid Easter Island-lookin face. - from who else? DaneykoIsGod!

Even when Marty comes back maybe Larry should put Clemmensen to be on the goal during the shootouts.Can the coach do that ? Switch the goalies 5 seconds to go in overtime? - Most priceless quote ever posted on a message board.

Martin Brodeur: THE MOST ALL-TIME WINS!, 12 straight seasons of 30+ wins, 3 Stanley Cups, 4 Vezina Trophies, and zero respect from too many so-called Devils "fans" who are either too young or too bandwagon to remember the much darker days of Sean Burke, Craig Billington, Bob Sauve, Alain Chevrier, and the talented but overwhelmed Chico Resch, among many others.

It's easy to support a great player when he's playing at his very best. It takes a true fan to support that same player during those rare moments and stretches when he's not. Babe Ruth went 0-4 some games, and sometimes Wayne Gretzky was held pointless. There may be such a thing as greatness, but no such thing as absolute perfection every single night.

#30 FOREVER!

20 out of 1,946 njdevs.com members agree: CR1976 is the Most Knowledgable Poster of 2008! Victory is mine...oh yes, victory is mine!

I Am not surprised by it all, it shows you how infrequently the rags have been this far in the past 18 years so they have to drag out the memories, it does after all sell papers.

cue Rangers promos replaying a clip of the "Guarantee" and the same clip they play anytime they mention the Rangers and the Cup in the same breath: Messier seizuring holding the cup in 94...and the pointless banner-raisings they've done

NEW YORK -- John Tortorella seemed a bit offended when a reporter brought up "the guarantee." Well actually, he was confused at first when he was asked about "1994," claiming ignorance of the question. And when he was finally clued into where it was going...